Re: Origins (was: Re: Sharovipteryx)

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 5/27/00 2:02:00 AM EST, NJPharris@aol.com writes:

<< Before the paper was written (and I 
 haven't even read the darn paper; I'm just using it as a rhetorical device 
 [sorry, Jim!]), there were two possibilities: a) stegosaur plates could 
 potentially have functioned as thermoregulatory devices; b) stegosaur plates 
 could not possibly have functioned as thermoregulatory devices. >>

And I said that, prior to the paper, I knew of no paleontologist who would 
have considered possibility (b) as being correct. But few paleontologists 
gave the idea any thought one way or the other, before the paper (e.g., in 
Kuhn-Steel's Part 15 of the Handbook of Paleoherpetology, the idea is not 
even mentioned), so one of the paper's major contributions was simply to 
present the hypothesis for scientific discussion.